Why we embraced footprints…. and where we go from here! Read the article from the Spring 2014 issue of Duke Environment magazine: Monitoring endangered species, without further endangering them
The iconic and beautiful mountain lion (cougar) ranges widely across the Americas, but population estimates are often unreliable. In Texas, where unregulated hunting still exists, it’s a particular challenge. We’ve just had a paper accepted by the Wild Felid Monitor on how footprint identification might help provide effective monitoring….https://wildtrack.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Monitoring-mountain-lion-using-footprints-WFM-March-2014.pdf
While in Beijing we were interviewed by a group of very incisive IT journalists. They grilled us, and our host Bryan Yan from JMP China, for more than 3 hours…but their feedback has been wonderful! See more for links to the articles from CSDN, CTOCIO and CCIDNET, with translations.
China often gets a bad rap in the west on conservation issues. But on our recent visit we were struck by impressive new initiatives. First up – a series of billboards are given prominent position at Beijing airport…
How captive giant pandas are helping their wild counterparts. Our super-effiicient Chinese colleagues have already started collecting panda footprints from the Ya’an centre near Chengdu. These will form the foundation of the training dataset, from which we will develop the FIT algorithm that will help monitor pandas in the wild.
China blog 7: Many giant panda experts told us it would be impossible to get good panda footprints in the wild….either because of deep leaf litter, or deep snow, or uneven terrain….but we were not deterred. Our experience has shown that unless biologists are specifically looking for footprints, they don’t…
China blog 6 In a bid to reintroduce some captive bred Pandas to wild protected areas, the animals are placed in a large natural fenced area and a strict no-contact with humans observed. The keepers, and any visitors, must put on a panda costume so that the animals don’t regard…
China blog 5 Wolong Nature Reserve, at 31 degrees north, on a similar latitude to Florida. But don’t be fooled, it’s very cold and damp in the Himalayas in February, and particularly since the super-hardy locals don’t believe in any indoor heating! Here we’re presenting to the Wolong Research group…
China blog 4: Finally we got to see Panda footprints in the snow! In Chengdu we met our colleagues at the China Conservation and Research Centre for the Giant Panda.
Under blue skies and walking on sheet ice I boldly went tracking the Amur tiger with colleague Prof. Dr Guangshun Jiang, Executive Director of the Chinese State Administration Feline Research Center.
